


Northern Wind

by Onehelluvapilot



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 20:30:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15420987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot
Summary: A character study of North.





	Northern Wind

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I'll admit that North isn't my favorite character, but it pisses me off how everyone is so adamant about hating her so much. Especially with how they seem so willing to forgive Gavin Reed for all his much worse flaws. The only reason I can see for this is simple (complex) sexism. I tried to address that a little in this fic. I hope you like it.

North hated her job. She did it, and she did it as best she could because people were counting on her and she was not about to let them down, but she hated every second of it.

“Hey there,” she said softly, crouching down next to the YK500 model. The child's thin hair was tangled, and there were cigarette burn marks down both of her arms. She had been abused, badly, by the humans that were supposed to be her parents. “What's your name, little one?”

“R-rachel,” she replied, static in her voice. It dehumanized her more than the blue blood on her cheek or the white plastic showing through her artificial skin near the burns. 

“I'm North. I understand you've had a tough time of it,” the adult female android said. She tried to modify her voice the way Josh had taught her to sound more caring, but it always just sounded fake to her ears. “We're going to find you a home where you can be safe.”  
The child did not seem to be very comforted by this, but North couldn't think of anything else to say. She swore that Connor the damned deviant hunter would be better at this than she was. At least he would know what to say. She picked up the kid and handed it to a designated childcare android.

The woman kept in a sigh as she stood up. She understood why she's had been chosen for this job; it benefited Jericho's image to have a female model in charge of welfare because it enhanced the idea that androids could be mothers, and she was the only one Markus trusted enough to run the android child and family services division. And she liked the logistics of it enough, reviewing files, coordinating where to send investigative Android Child Protective Service teams, managing foster family benefits. It was just the dealing with children that drained her batteries.  
What irked her the most was that she knew she could be more use someplace else. Basically anyplace else, where she wasn't forced to try to be motherly. It wasn't one of her strengths, and she found it absurd that people would think it was based upon only her model's assigned gender.

North knew she needed a role where she could let herself be hard and cold. That was part of her identity. She embraced that part of being an android. It made her feel strong. There was nothing wrong with being kind or caring, she knew, but she didn't want it for herself. Not anymore. She wasn't who she was programmed to be. That wasn't what she wanted.

What she wanted, above all else, was to help her people. Her disagreements with Markus during the revolution had stemmed from this desire, how both of them just wanted what was best for Jericho but had different visions of how to achieve it. She felt the same argument bubbling up now.

“I want a new role,” she demanded when he got home that night.

“We need you where you are,” Markus replied coldly. North thought she might be rubbing off on him a little too much.

Without saying anything she reached out to grab his wrist, their skin peeling back automatically and simultaneously. She sent over everything she had felt that day. The anger, the despair, and the frustration. Markus pulled away after a second. 

“What would you prefer to do instead?” he asked. Understanding was clear in his eyes.

“Let me coordinate general android aid. I'm good at strategy; that's how I can be most helpful.” North wondered sometimes how she'd developed this affinity; it wasn't exactly a skill programmed into sexbots. It had to stem from her own consciousness. Something human in her.

“We'll need someone to take over social services,” Markus pointed out.

“Get in touch with Kara,” North suggested. She'd read an article about how becoming pregnant literally altered a human woman's brain to make her more ready for motherhood. It seemed to her that the same thing had taken place when Kara became deviant for Alice. “Now that we have rights in the US, she might feel safer bringing her family back here.”

“I'll contact her,” Markus agreed. “You'll have to stay on as director until she responds or we find someone else.”

“As long as my time in that hellhole has an end date that's alright,” North said in relief.

“I didn't know you hated it so much.”

“You can never tell what someone is thinking without an interface, can you?” It was a genuine question, but one she already knew the answer to. In her eyes is a challenge.

“I suppose I ought to work on that,” he admitted. He didn't throw the same question back at her, knowing what her answer would be too. Empathy was not her role.

She was the one that made the hard decisions, and she was proud of it. Even if people hated her for it.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in the chemical brain changes caused by pregnancy, and a lot of other stuff about motherhood in humans and animals, I recommend the book Wild Moms by Carin Bondar. It's written in accessible scientific language but doesn't at all talk down to the reader and has a lot of really cool info.
> 
> If you have opinions (good or bad) about this passive aggressive character study or North in general, I'd love to hear them in the comments.


End file.
